Weak Kid

(White Muscle Disease)

Our
last doe scheduled to kid in 2003 (next bunch
start in February 2004) had twins Christmas
Day around 1 p.m. This is a doe we bought
a few weeks ago who is scared of her own shadow.
She was always the last in to eat, so she
seldom got grain. Fortunately we have an excellent
(green) pasture for her as well as some green
weeds remaining on the creek bank. She also
has salt/minerals available to her at all
times. But, the “pasture-raised”
results showed in the babies.

These
kids have outstanding pedigrees - Oscar and
Bodacious Protea both top and bottom (great
grandparents) with EGGSfile on top and Sasquatch
on bottom. They are perfectly marked - well
worth saving.

The
problem: lack of size and energy at birth.
Or, very small, weak kids!

Most
of our kids weigh between 8 and 10 lbs. at
birth. Nothing beats prenatal
nutrition! Mothers on pasture may not
gain much weight and may not be candidates
for ketosis, but I'd rather have mothers on
feed and have big, healthy babies instead
of tiny, sickly ones.

These
babies were born in the hay field. We found
them when they were minutes old and moved
them to the barn. We allowed the mother 2
hours to get them up and nursing. She did
an excellent job cleaning them up, but she
couldn’t get them to stand. We milked
her and fed the kids colostrum with 6 cc.
syrings (18 cc. at a time every 2 hours).
The little doeling weighed in at 5.5 lbs.
(this was after she had been force-fed colostrum
and then nursed on her own).

The
tiny buckling weighed just under 4.5 lbs.
after we had given him over 50 oz. of colostrum.
He could not stand - his legs were too weak
to hold him up.

We
took him in to the vet's on Boxing Day (26
December 2003) after he survived the night
and 18 degree weather. His blood-sugar level
(even though we've been giving him GoatAid
and Neutra-Drench) was in the 30s (60 is normal
for a goat). So the poor little thing got
12 cc of dextrose - and we were given 4 more
syringes to give him should his temperature
drop below 100. He also got a 1/2 cc BoSe
and 3-days worth of .10 cc excenel. Neutra-Drench
and Probios were also prescribed.

We
put the doe on the milking stand, and put
2 oz. in a bottle for him. He didn't want
to take the bottle (and we never want a bottle
baby if we can help it), but the taste of
milk did make him hungry. So, while mom was
on the stand, we allowed him to nurse all
he wanted. He could by then push himself up
on his rear feet, but the front end wouldn’t
go up at the same time. When his fraidy-cat
mother would stand real still, he could nurse
- until she panicked and walked away. Most
of the time by the time he scooted into position,
the sister had been nursing and mom decided
enough was enough.

We
kept working with this little boy. Our vet
encouraged a heating pad for him to sleep
on, but agreed heat lamps were better than
nothing. Mama and babies had a sheltered area
all to themselves in the feed-room area of
the barn.

After two days,
he figured out he could scoot – pulling
himself with his front legs while using his
rear legs like a swimmer doing the breast
stroke – and could maneuver all around
the barn. The motion was almost frog-like
the way the rear legs were spread out. We
tried wrapping his rear legs with Vetwrap
to provide support, but his mother would not
let him nurse, or near her, with the Vetwrap
on his legs.

When
he was 5 days old, he went back to the vet’s.
At that time he got another .1 cc of excenel
and another ½ cc of BoSe. It was apparent
at this time he was getting stronger but still
couldn’t stand more than 15 to 20 seconds
without the rear legs spreading out. He had
gained 1 ½ pounds (but his sister had
gained 2 ½ pounds during the same 5
days), but so much of his calories were being
burned just trying to get to mama to nurse.

On
day 6 – HOORAY – he was up and
walking on his own. Success.

We
have since learned that the BoSe does not
always have enough Vitamin E to do the job.
If a kid is born to a previously treated doe
and still has weak muscles, we have found
that puncturing a Vitamin E capsule (1,000
mg) and squirting it into the kid's mouth
will produce positive results within 12 hours.

If
you liked this article please let us know
by signing our guestbook.